Living with an infectious disease

Akon Oh Africa clip: 0:07

It took me three or four days to get out of bed clip: 0:18

Kelsey: So it took me about three or four days to get out of bed. After that, the tiredness and dreams will last for quite a while.  The thing that scared me the most was the hallucinations because I have never had that happen to me before.

Intro clip: 0:07

Jackie: Kelsey Boone may seem like your average University student. She’s in her third year, an English major and is President of the St. Thomas University/University of New Brunswick Red Cross Club. Her responsibilities as president of the club include being in charge of the November/December Malaria Christmas card campaign.

The campaign clip 0:44

Jackie: The campaign focused on raising money for bed nets for those threatened by Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. The campaign successfully raised a remarkable total of over $1,800 dollars. For Boone, this campaign was especially important. This past summer she spent three months in Ghana, Africa living in a rural village and teaching in a school. Within the first three weeks she got malaria.

Mosquito clip: 0:06

Sure enough I had malaria clip:  1:03

Kelsey: I had gone away for the weekend with a friend from the village and the other one of the volunteers. I came back and started to get a sore throat. Just thought it was cold and that was fine. The next day I just lay in bed for awhile and it’s not abnormal to be sick because you’re going into a completely different culture. So I just rested and hoped I would be better. And the next day I really wasn’t feeling well and they were all like ‘oh you have to go to the hospital’ I’m not going to the hospital because I just thought it was a common cold because that’s how it felt.  So I went and it was the Cuban doctor who really didn’t know what she was doing and she gave me medicine for a cold. So I came home and that was on Tuesday night and then Wednesday I woke up and I was hallucinating, I did not recognize anyone and was just completely incoherent. So then they were like ‘you have to go to the hospital’ so sure enough I had malaria.

Symptoms of Malaria clip: 0:09

Jackie: Symptoms of Malaria include fever, headache , chills and vomitting which can last as long as fifteen days. If not treated properly the result is often fatal.

Jane Jenkins clip 0:07

Jackie: Jane Jenkins a Science and Technology Professor at St. Thomas University teaches a History of Disease course. One of the diseases taught is malaria.

Malaria is… clip 0:52

Jane: Well malaria is a disease you get from mosquitoes. It’s actually a parasitic disease. Mosquitoes who are carrying the parasite will inject it into the person if they are biting that person to gorge on their blood. So that’s when the person becomes infected with the parasite that is carried by mosquitoes.  And the parasite makes its way into the person’s liver and can do great damage. So it’s a pretty serious disease that is caused by mosquitoes.  Since mosquitoes are so plentiful in certain areas of the world it’s very difficult to control.

Dangerous disease clip 0:33

Jane: Well it’s certainly a dangerous disease and can cause damage if left uncontrolled and can eventually lead to death. It does every year kill millions and millions of people primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa that’s the part of the world where you’re most likely to be infected by it. The people that are at risk the most are children.

Boy passed away clip: 0:17

Kelsey: There was a boy who was only eight years old who lived in the next village over from me. He got sick on Friday and passed away Sunday morning and then my good friend her uncle the same thing happened to him. I mean you’ll never know if it is from malaria but you automatically assume that it is from it.

There were 247 cases clip: 0:07

Jackie: There were 247 million cases of Malaria in 2006, causing nearly one million deaths mostly among children.

A child dies every 30 seconds clip: 0:04

Jackie: According to the World Health Organization a child dies from Malaria every 30 seconds.

Mosquito clip: 0:06

Peak season clip: 0:49

Kelsey: I was there during the peak malaria season because it was the malaria season so the mosquitoes were really bad. It’s almost a common thing if anyone has a cold or anything to say ‘oh I have malaria’ kind of like how over here we say ‘I have a cold or the flu’ rather they’ll say that. So it’s really common and they know how to deal with it. Most of the people in the village won’t go to the hospital but they have local herbs and that’s fine.  But with saying that you do have to be careful because I had three people around the village that got sick one day and died the next day. It’s crossed my mind but it hasn’t discouraged me or anything. Now that I’ve had it I’m susceptible to do it so the chances of getting it again are quite high.

Treatment clip: 1:11

Jane: Well there are a whole range of drugs that are anti-malarial drugs. One of the most common ones and the one that has been used since the nineteenth century is called quinine and it’s the most common treatment. Some people in Africa can’t afford it and unfortunately as well a new problem is that some of the mosquitoes are becoming immune to the anti-malarial drugs. The parasite is becoming immune to it so that makes treatment more difficult. There are research programs on going now to try and develop a vaccine for malaria and that has been met with some success although it is a hugely expensive process to research and develop the vaccine. It is still in the early stages and I don’t believe they have rolled out a vaccine that will prevent infection.

Foreign doctor clip: 0:19

Kelsey: Even when I was in the hospital when I went to the second doctor who did do the blood work when I had malaria. He even said foreign doctors who are our Canadian doctors they try to give you these pills and there’s no point because if you’re gonna get it you’re gonna get it and it was just funny how he said that to me.

Malaria is preventable clip:  0:05

Jackie: Malaria is an infectious disease that is preventable and cureable. Bed nets are the best way to prevent the disease.

Can’t think about the what-if’s clip:  0:51

Kelsey: I lived through it and I got through it and that was fine. Sometime in strange ways something like getting sick somewhere can add to your experience and you really adapt there. Honestly, I had only been there with a little over two weeks going into my third week and I wasn’t that close with my family and it was really hard to get into the family and when I got malaria was when I really developed my relationship with my family and they became my family. I thought it was really powerful that this sickness brought us together and that was when I had a family and became part of them which was really quite good. So you can’t worry about what’s going to happen you just have to go live it and if it happens you got to take things as they come.

Having malaria clip: 0:14

Jackie: Having malaria has changed Boone’s perspectives of things. Her advice to people who are thinking about travelling to Africa is to not think about the what if’s. If you’re worried about getting sick you’re not going to enjoy yourself. Despite having the infectious disease, Boone plans to go back to Ghana this summer.

Sign off clip: 0:01

Jackie: Jackie Allan STU Journalism, Fredericton.

Akon Oh Africa clip: 0:07

Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=5615

Posted by Jackie Allan on Mar 31, 2010. Filed under Transcripts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.